Broadway World's My Way Review

MY WAY: Swingin' and Swayin' Frank Sinatra Revue Continues Through August 23 at the Laguna Playhouse
By Michael L. Quintos
August 10, 2009

When Frank Sinatra passed away in May of 1998, America, it seemed, lost one of its most iconic and treasured song stylists. Sinatra in his day was one of only a handful of artists that transcended mere celebrity star status, thanks to a career that spanned film, television, recordings, and the stage. With a style often imitated (and at times parodied) even today, Sinatra popularized the Great American Songbook, thanks to his signature vocals and easy, confident persona. Many consider his recordings to be the definitive versions of any given song he touched.

Sinatra's rich and extensive catalog explains why The Laguna Playhouse's production of MY WAY: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO FRANK SINATRA is jam-packed with almost 60 songs from his decades-spanning repertoire. Here the musical revue doesn't present his work in the form of the usual (often clichéd) impersonator that looks and sounds like "Ol' Blue Eyes," but rather as an honest-to-goodness, bare-bones tribute of the songs that made him a twentieth century icon. Much like Ain't Misbehavin' showcased Fats Waller's music in a non-narrative format, MY WAY presents Sinatra's songbook via four excellent singers in front of a dimly-lit jazz nightclub setting...complete with, naturally, a full bar and a full moon. Between categorized song medleys, John Fredo, Casey Erin Clark, Jason Watson and Karen M. Jeffreys intersperse quotes, anecdotes and recollections from Sinatra's life. They talk of a bygone era when women were coy and the men swept them off their feet with class, style, confidence, and a martini.

For two acts, the robust quartet—in individual solos, duets and as the full quartet—sing, swoon and dance through some very familiar and even not-so-familiar songs Sinatra had recorded over the years. It is remarkable and astonishing to realize just how much music Sinatra actually made his own, as one familiar standard after another came in succession. But instead of merely imitating Sinatra's musicality, we are treated to some beautiful and often charming arrangements by Stephen Kummer, Donald Jenzcka and Vince di Mura (the latter contributing his talents as the night's hardworking piano accompanist). These jazzed-up arrangements serve the quartet's vocals well, especially the ballads and the showstoppers.

The musical numbers include many Sinatra staples: "The Way You Look Tonight," "All of Me," "My Funny Valentine," "Summer Wind," Chicago Is (My Kind of Town)," "The Lady is a Tramp," "That Old Black Magic," "Witchcraft," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "All the Way," "Fly Me to the Moon," and, of course, "My Way."

Sinatra, for lack of a better word, was a "player," which in today's terminology translates into a smooth ladies' man with a confident swagger. This is a recurring theme of the night, as the quartet blazes through their song sets with vigor. For a tribute revue of a male icon, Act 1, ironically enough, belongs to the ladies. Clark and Jeffreys outshine the men with their interpretations of Sinatra's more familiar repertoire. Jeffreys' vocals are a treat, pairing her naturally cute charm with a subtle yet seductive style. Clark, an obvious powerhouse vocalist, is delightful but, at times, appears too affected in her interpretations, which in a smaller venue like the Laguna Playhouse could be a distraction away from her amazing vocal prowess. When all four singers do sing together, the harmonies are simply enchanting, like ear candy.

The men, though, step up (literally and figuratively) in Act 2. Watson is a wonderful singer and hoofer, gliding from one end of the stage to the other with the greatest of ease. Fredo magically transforms into Sinatra in several songs as well, but not as a caricature or weak Vegas mimic. Instead, thanks to some impressive pipes and a showman's gusto, Fredo offers more of a generous homage to the Chairman of the Board. The song cycles in the second act start off decidedly melancholy, referencing Sinatra's public penchant for booze and women. Songs like "Drinkin' Again" and "One For My Baby" is punctuated by the cast "getting permission" to drink "real" champagne on stage. The quartet take turns singing "It Was A Very Good Year," with the right amount of nostalgia and longing.

More famous Sinatra upbeat tunes follow like "Nice N' Easy," "You Make Me Feel So Young," and "Fly Me To The Moon" before segueing into a Medley called "Songs for Survivors" which, the quartet explains, is in essence the life Sinatra led. They then transition into a rousing rendition of "That's Life" that had the audience cheering and clapping along (or at least, attempting to clap along to the drum beats). And, of course, the night's finalé of "My Way" was moving, touching, and appropriately reverent.

Conceived and directed by David Grapes, MY WAY is a peppy, entertaining, though safe revue with a cast of talented singers. What the production lacks in pizazz and style is saved by a songbook of familiar, enjoyable tunes. So, in a way, Sinatra's mantra is true: how do you ensure an entertained audience? "Sing Good Songs!"

Photo: From L to R: Jason Watson, Karen Jeffreys, Casey Erin Clark and John Fredo. "My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra" July 7 - August 23, 2009 at The Laguna Playhouse. Photo credit: David Grapes.

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MY WAY: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO Frank Sinatra was conceived by David Grapes and Todd Olson. The book is by Todd Olson. The original production, as well as this production at the Laguna Playhouse, is directed by David Grapes.

Performances continue at The Laguna Playhouse through August 23. Shows run Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm and Saturday and Sunday Matinees at 2 pm. Tickets to any performance are available by purchasing tickets in person or by calling the box office at (949) 497-2787 ext. 1 (group tickets, dial ext. 229) or by visiting their web site at http://www.lagunaplayhouse.com/. The Laguna Playhouse is located at 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach, CA.

Notes from My Way Director, David Grapes

In the days after May 14, 1998, I did what most Americans did: ­watched the multitude of tributes to the recently-departed Frank Sinatra. His old TV concerts, interviews, and films filled nearly every available television channel.

I was always taken by Sinatra’s ease, his "cool," and the epic in-your-face way that he chose to live his life. I wondered, “How could that be translated into an evening of theatre?” The solution was obvious. The key was in the music. I knew that I had to create a theatrical piece about this man. I called Todd Olsen, a former student and collaborator, and we started to work.

After some quick research, Todd and I were amazed to learn that the man had recorded nearly 1400 songs. We marveled at how he sustained a career over six decades, and we were intrigued by his remarkable way with a simple lyric, his musicality, his artistry, and the way he controlled both the song and the audience.

Frank really was the first teen idol and the first singer to have tremendous power in multiple mediums. There are really only a few stars today with the same kind of star power that Frank had. He was the first star to be hounded by the paparazzi, and his battles with the press are legendary. Frank lived his life out loud and let the chips fall where they may.

Todd and I got busy working on My Way. The first workshop was a book musical at Artpark in March of 1999 and included much of the same music you will hear at this performance. I then moved to Tennessee Rep in Nashville in 2000 and brought Todd in as my Associate Director. It was my idea to rewrite the show into a revue format so we added our arranger friend Vince diMura and started fresh.

We decided to choose songs based on themes we wanted to explore. We tried to include the "signature" songs, but also wanted to include songs that not everyone would immediately recognize, but had great versions that had been recorded by Sinatra like “I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry.” We added and we cut until we landed on the 57 songs that folks will hear during this performance. There always seems to be “the one that got away” and for us it was “Luck Be A Lady Tonight.” I confess that we really wanted to use it, but were never able to obtain the rights to use that song in My Way.

As we worked on this show, Todd and I set a goal not to create a show that needed an impersonator, but to first and foremost create a theatrical event, which is why we have two men and two women in the piece. I tell people that there is only one Sinatra and he is gone. What lives on is the music that Sinatra loved and that meant so much to him. We can bring that music to life in a style that embraces the true essence of Sinatra as the artist and "saloon singer."

If you’re coming to The Laguna Playhouse to see a group of actors impersonate Sinatra, then you have come to the wrong show. The goal of My Way has always been to construct a musical revue that recalls the essence of the man through the glorious music he sang. We want to celebrate Sinatra's mystique, and his myth, using the music he loved best: the American standard. We have tried to create a respectful tribute to a figure unlike any other in the last century.

We hope that audiences come away with the feeling that they’ve had a magical experience at the theatre, that it was romantic, sophisticated and engaging, and that they’ll leave the theatre with a renewed respect and admiration for Sinatra and the music he sang.
You can follow David Grapes on twitter @DavidGrapes

LA Times "MY WAY" Review

Review: "My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra" at Laguna Playhouse
By Charles McNulty
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 2:30pm

Death has a way of putting the kibosh on immortal longings, but as Michael Jackson’s recent passing makes clear, legends ultimately belong to their fans. And “My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra,” which opened Saturday at the Laguna Playhouse, is a groupie’s dream.

Conceived by Todd Olson and the show’s director and choreographer, David Grapes, this revue, performed by a cast of two men and two women, pays homage to America’s all-time coolest crooner by trotting out a few dozen of the more than 1,300 songs Ol' Blue Eyes recorded in his unbelievably prolific career.

Conceding that Sinatra's mighty trumpet of a voice and gift for naturally taking ownership of lyrics are inimitable, the singers shy away from impersonation. Of the four performers, John Fredo (Man No. 1) is the most similar, but even he can only vaguely approximate the seemingly effortless magic of the Chairman of the Board’s belting a tune with the alacrity of a saloon dweller throwing back a scotch.

So instead of imitation, we get two hours of genial flattery. Sinatra die-hards, easily singled out by their undulating shoulders, lapped it up like yummy tapioca pudding. For the rest of us, there was an extensive (maybe too extensive) offering of old standards to enjoy.

True, the production, marked by crisscrossing couples and church-social amiability, occasionally invoked the strolling banality of “The Lawrence Welk Show." But who could complain about a treasure-trove of hits that includes such Sinatra signatures as “I’ve Got the World on a String,” “One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)” and “Fly Me to the Moon"?

Fittingly, the set, designed by Bruce Goodrich, situates us in a nightclub, with a bar on the left, a jazzy trio on a raised platform in the middle and an intimate booth on the right for a little cozy serenading. Biographical details (concerning Sinatra’s origins, storied romances and all-important likes and dislikes) are sprinkled throughout, but the overarching narrative is about saluting an icon.

"My Way" seems pitched, reasonably enough, to a graying demographic. After the group performs “Strangers in the Night,” Casey Erin Clark (Woman No. 1) observes, “I bet everyone in this audience has a memory associated with that song.” Hard to imagine those words being spoken at a Black Eyed Peas concert, but if there’s anything to the notion that “half the U.S. population over 40 was conceived while their parents were listening to the music of Frank Sinatra,” the younger generation may owe Sinatra more than it realizes.

The quartet harmonizes pleasantly. Clark has a seductive high range and a sophisticated air that contrasts nicely with Fredo’s guyish charmer. His snappy deep voice and tap dancing panache are the liveliest elements of the show; her torch-song sound is the most haunting.

Karen Jeffreys, as the bubbly ingenue (Woman No. 2), and Jason Watson, as the energetic fellow raring to reap adulthood’s rewards (Man No. 2), offer glimpses of Sinatra’s early years. They seem less seasoned than their counterparts, but they provide endearing, if less distinctive, company.

Theatrically speaking, however, this visit to the Sinatra shrine doesn't amount to much more than a breezy musical survey. In fact, there are moments when it felt as though the show could be unfolding in a hotel lobby bar, albeit one with a first-rate band. (James Leary on bass and Drew Henwall on drums both thrive under pianist and musical director Vince Di Mura’s passionate conducting.)

Drama isn't part of the equation. Like Jackson’ recent memorial at the Staples Center, there’s a willful innocence to this endeavor that would prefer to deflect dicey realities. Apparently, Sinatra liked dry martinis and leggy broads the way Jackson liked Peter Pan and Ferris wheels. If there’s a dark side, it gets glossed over by the extolling script.

As Watson explains, “For those of you who followed Sinatra’s career, you know that there were as many ‘Franks’ as there are states in the union. There was the husband, the father, the jilted lover, the skinny Dorsey crooner, the gutsy Capital swinger, the lion in winter, the life-liver, the rat-packer, the drinker, the guy’s guy. The only man in America who could wear a tuxedo the way John Wayne wore chaps.”

We should all be so lucky to have our earthly legacies so winningly summed up. But then this is a portrait in music that is meant to be adulatory, a thank-you to the man who, as Clark’s father told her, “had sung the soundtrack to his life.”

A hat-tipping finale of “My Way” along with (what else?) a reprise of the theme from “New York, New York” reseals the myth of an undeniable master.

-- Charles McNulty

"My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra," Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. (Call for exceptions.) Ends: Aug. 23. $40-$70. (949) 497-2787. Running time: 2 hours

Follow Charles McNulty and other LA Times Art writers on Twitter @culturemonster

My Way Review- Broadway World

Sinatra Their Way: At the Moulton Theatre at Laguna Playhouse Through 8/23

by Don Grigware

Monday, July 13, 2009; Posted: 07:07 PM

Broadway World

My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra created by David Grapes & Todd Olson directed by David Grapes Moulton Theatre at Laguna Playhouse through August 23.
Frank Sinatra has been impersonated in The Rat Pack and in various night club settings. Some actors do him very well, such as Stephen Triffitt in The Rat Pack Live at the Sands; others do not even begin to do him justice as in Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara, so maybe it's just as well that we do not get this treatment in My Way at the Laguna Playhouse. Although, somehow, when I saw the graphic advertisement for the show, that's what I expected. No, indeed, this is a revue of his music, neatly packaged and tied up with a bow. Four super-talented artists sing and chat about ole' blue eyes, quoting him a bit and telling a little story now and again about his womanizing or philosophy of fast living.

David Grapes has put together a slick piece that is high on entertainment, but hardly cutting edge. The performers are all good...with music that is... inspirational. It lingers for all time. As Sinatra himself once said about the key to his success: SING GOOD SONGS! Of course, the Italian immigrant who became a band singer, movie star and a great legend, was never humble for a second. He hoped that people lived to be 100 and that the last voice they heard would be his.

Moving around the spacious bar set (Bruce Goodrich) with the ease and poise that made Sinatra a demigod, Casey Erin Clark, John Fredo, Karen Jefferys and Jason Watson entertain for 2 hours, singing individually, in couples and all together... favorite standards such as "My Funny Valentine", "All of Me", "High Hopes", "New York, New York", "The Tender Trap", "That Old Black Magic", "Witchcraft", "All the Way", "That's Life" and of course, "My Way". The songs are divided into categories like: Songs for Survivors, a Losers Medley, a Moon Medley (Remember Sinatra's concept album in the 60s to coincide with Earth's moonwalk?), Young Love, Love and Marriage, and a Broadway/Film Medley.

There's even an encore - which Sinatra never did -"I'll Be Seeing You". It's a nice celebration of the spirit of Sinatra who gave us a song for every mood, every emotion.

The second act is more reflective than the first with each performer drinking alone: "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry", "One for My Baby" and "It Was a Very Good Year". The last was a favorite of mine at a very early age; I guess I was old before I was young and understood life as Sinatra obviously did when he sang about it.

Costumes here in black (Lou Bird) are elegant, particularly the ladies' dresses with a touch of either blue or mauve. Great musical accompaniment from: Vince Di Mura at the piano, Drew Hemwall on drums and James Leary on bass. They never stop cookin'!

Overall, a great dinner theatre or cruise ship evening full of beautiful music but low on surprises. Go for the foursome: I particularly loved Fredo's terrific tapping and Clark's clean and sultry vocal stylings.

My Way Production Photos

Production Photos by David Grapes

My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra
Laguna Playhouse

July 7- August 23, 2009

"My Way: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra"

THE LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE KICKS OFF ITS 2009 – 2010 SEASON THIS JULY WITH
MY WAY: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO FRANK SINATRA
Musical Revue runs July 7 – August 23 and features
Four Singers and 60 Sinatra Songs

LAGUNA BEACH, CA – May 26, 2009 – Someone once asked Frank Sinatra how he became so successful. His response: “Sing good songs!”
Thanks to his skilled vocals and gift as a storyteller, Sinatra turned the good songs he sang into timeless treasures. Nearly 60 of those songs can be heard during the musical revue My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra that runs July 7 – August 23 at The Laguna Playhouse. The show is directed by David Grapes, who conceived the revue along with Todd Olson.
My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra celebrates the pivotal moments of Sinatra’s life which solidified his legendary status, and recalls the essence of the man through the glorious music he sang. Four singers (two women and two men) croon Sinatra tunes on a nightclub-style set—a suitable ambiance for songs from the man who always dubbed himself “a saloon singer.”
From his early big band beginnings in the 1940s on through his glory days in Las Vegas with the Rat Pack in the 1960s and ending with his final performances in the 1990s as “The Chairman of the Board,” My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra is packed with the swingin’ songs that made Sinatra the hip prince of popular music. Whether he exuded classic elegance or contemporary casual, Frank Sinatra was – and still is – the ultimate icon of cool.

Performance & Ticket Information:
Ticket Prices:
Preview performances: $35 to $55
Opening Night Gala: $101 to $116
Regular performances: $40 to $70

Previews:
July 7 - 10, 2009

Opening Night Gala:
Saturday, July 11, 2009

Regular Performances
July 12 – August 23
Tuesday – Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.
Thursday matinees July 9 & 23 / August 20 at 2:00 p.m.
Sunday evening July 19 at 7:30 p.m.
(Dates and times subject to change)

FOR INFORMATION & TO PURCHASE TICKETS:
CALL: 949.497.ARTS (2787) - GROUP SALES: 949.497.2787 ext. 229
VISIT: www.LagunaPlayhouse.com
MOULTON THEATRE: 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, California